Motivation | Peter Fletcher

In 2014, commit to learning

January 11, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

In 2014, commit to learning. Image: Aaron Brinker http://www.flickr.com/photos/sahdblunders/

If you want to be successful this year you need to be learning, says marketing guru Siimon Reynolds.

The world is moving too fast for us to do otherwise.

Business is changing uber fast. The cold hard fact is that if you want to succeed at a high level you simply must continually learn new things- sales techniques, time management, finance, leadership, marketing, mind strengthening, brand building, strategy- the list is endless. It can be daunting to think about all the things you don’t know, but that shouldn’t stop you from stepping forward and learning more than you knew yesterday.
In today’s business world, more than ever knowledge is power. Commit this year to dedicating yourself to learning more about what counts.

Today I spent hours learning about Infusionsoft. I learned about creating marketing plans and embedding Infusionsoft inquiry forms onto my website.

How about you? What did you learn today?

Nine things successful people do differently

January 9, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

Give yourself specific ‘I will’ goals. Image: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District http://www.flickr.com/photos/europedistrict/

Some people enjoy an upbringing or genetics that makes them predisposed to success, but that only explains a small part of their success. According to Heidi Grant Halvorson, associate director for the Motivation Science Center at the Columbia Science Center, successful people do things differently.

In her book Halvorson identifies the nine things successful people do differently.

In summary, her nine points are:

They get specific. When setting goals, successful people create specific, tangible goals. For example, rather than saying “I’d like to lose some weight” their goal would be “I want to lose 5 kilograms by the end of the year.”
They seize the moment. Rather than hoping to get time to pursue their goals, they make the time. Exercising at a specific time of the day and on specific days is a great start. Alternately, you could use an if-then model. If you see stairs next to an elevator, take the stairs.
Know how far you have left to go. Successful people monitor their progress. They know what they’ve achieved and what they still have to do.
Be a realistic optimist. Successful people are usually optimistic but they’re also realists. They set goals that are achievable and that take into account the obstacles that might be faced.
Focus on getting better, rather than good. Successful people focus on improving themselves not on proving themselves. They believe that improvement is possible and that the ingredients for success aren’t predetermined by genetics or upbringing.
They have grit. Successful people are more likely to persist in the face of adversity. They don’t stop simply because things get tough. The flip side to this is that people who lack grit often lack belief in their own abilities, and that’s something that can be changed.
They build their willpower muscle. Successful people work on improving their willpower. To develop more willpower start with a small habit and resist the urge to quit. Keep it up until you’ve broken or created the habit then move on to something bigger. I have cold showers and have done so since May 10, 2008.
Don’t tempt fate. Successful people know how far they can stretch their willpower and they avoid the temptation to make unrealistic willpower goals. Once they’ve made a goal they have the self-awareness to avoid situations that create unnecessary temptation.
Focus on what you will do, not on what you won’t do. Successful people express their goals in the positive. “I want to lose 5 kilograms” becomes, “My waist will be [fill in the measurement] by the end of the year.”

Share your best tip for creating more success in the comments below.

Photo credit: USACE Europe District on Flickr.

Achieve your goals and get better results by avoiding these 8 confidence-sapping traps

January 8, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

Hurdlers in action

Research has established a clear correlation between confidence and enhanced performance. When you feel good about yourself you’ll perform better. Put another way, feeling bad or negative about yourself will adversely affect your chances of success.

It makes sense, then, to actively look for ways to increase your sense of confidence and well-being. But how can you shake off self-doubt and a lack of confidence?

Professor at Harvard Business School and author of Confidence Rosabeth Moss Kanter recommends avoiding the following eight confidence-sapping traps.

Self-defeating assumptions. Don’t give up before you’ve started. Until you’ve had a crack you’ll never know. The stories you tell yourself about your limitations and failings are crucial to your chance of success. Start telling yourself a powerful inner story.

Setting goals that are too big or too distant. I did that with my 50 chin-up challenge last year. That goal was too big considering what I’d achieved to that point. If you are going to set big goals, break them down into smaller goals. For example, losing 10 kilograms this year sounds much bigger than losing 800 grams per month. Sure, have big, stretch goals, but have small goals too. They’ll give you the much needed small victories that will help build your confidence.

Don’t declare victory too soon. I often see this with sales people where they have a couple of good months then put a deposit on the new Porsche. Confidence comes from knowing that you’ve had the discipline to see a task through to completion, not from pandering to an out-of-control ego.

Trying to do it all yourself. Success is a team sport and the best way to develop a winning team is to develop those around you. That means helping them improve their career, their skills, and giving them a sense of their own self worth. Do this and you’ll instantly feel better about yourself.

Blaming someone else. True confidence demands that we take responsibility for our results and our reactions. Shifting the blame for our failures implies that someone else is responsible for our success. Both are disempowering so take responsibility for every aspect of your life – even the bits that you wish were going better than they are today.

Being overly defensive. Being sensitive to criticism means you’re playing someone else’s game. If you’ve made a mistake, apologise but be proud of who you are and what you’ve achieved. When you’re proud of you there’s no need to defend. Sticks and stones and all that stuff.

Neglecting to anticipate setbacks. Being confident allows you to tackle difficult goals despite knowing there’ll be setbacks and a chance that you’ll fail. It’s important to anticipate obstacles, not as a way to stop you from going for your goals, but to give you something to work through or around. Setbacks are the lifeblood of confidence because they give us a story to tell when we’ve overcome them.

Avoid overconfidence. It’s one thing to be confident but another to be arrogant. No-one likes a know-it-all so keep your feet on the ground and your heart humble.

What would you add to this list?

Photo credit: Philo Nordlund on Flickr

Failing is only failure if you fail to learn

January 4, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

Runner in pain during a race

Whenever we set goals, especially big ones, we expose ourselves to the risk of failing. When we fail to achieve a goal the tendency is to see ourselves as failures.

But that’s not the case.

When we fail to achieve a goal we’re provided with an opportunity to learn what doesn’t work and what we could be doing better.

In 2013 I set a goal of doing 50 consecutive chin-ups by my 50th birthday. I had around 8 months to get the job done. Although I knew it would be hard I was willing to train hard.

I set up a chin-up bar in a doorway of our house. The toll for passing through that doorway was 3 chin-ups. I did chin-ups at Jacobs Ladder. I did weighted chin-ups, used exercise bands, and bought Fat Grips to increase my grip strength.

But progress was slow.

By the end of June I knew I wasn’t going to make it. My best effort was 12. 50 was just too far away.

I quit.

What did I learn from this failure?

Simply, I learned that the goal wasn’t realistic. Sure it was a stretch – I got that part right – but the number didn’t relate to the number I’d achieved previously.

The mistake I made is a mistake a lot of sales people make when they set targets. They listen to a motivational sales guru and commit to achieving twice the number of sales they did in the previous year.

Just like my chin-up challenge these targets are often unrealistic.

But there’s a better way of achieving goals and it’s based on a marathon training programme.

One of the key principals of training for long distance events is to not step up your training too quickly. That means not increasing your weekly training by more than 10% from the previous week.

This graduated step up in intensity reduces the likelihood of sustaining an overuse injury. It also gives the athlete a series of small wins. These have a cumulative effect of building a fitness base and of giving the athlete the confidence to attempt the next step in their programme.

Applying this principal to sales targets, think of your sales activity like an athlete does their training. In the same way an athlete gradually increases their training load, increase your prospecting and marketing activities slowly.

Before lifting your intensity calculate your current activity levels. In other words, find out how sales fit you are. Then look to gradually lift your activity levels by small increments over the course of the next 12 months.

During the course of the month measure and record your activities. At the end of each month take the time to reflect on your performance. Regardless of whether you achieved your targets or came up short take responsibility for them.

Reflect on what went well and why and what you could have done better. Doing this will empower you to work on the processes that contribute to you achieving the results you’re chasing.

Photo credit. Tobyotter on Flickr

10 tips that will help turn your New Year’s Eve wishes into reality

January 1, 2014 by Peter Fletcher

New Year's resolutions
Today is the 1st of January. It’s a day that many people make resolutions to do things such as lose weight, give up smoking, or get fit.

Sadly, many of these resolutions are dead in the water before the end of January. They needn’t be, says psychologist Caroline Adams Miller.

Miller believes that there’s a more positive way to set goals rather than simply writing them down, as was the mantra of the fifties .

In summary, here are Miller’s top 10 tips that will help turn your New Year’s Eve wishes into reality.

Get happier. According to Miller, “it is now rock-solid science that being in your most positive frame of mind and functioning is the most powerful predictor of any type of success.” We’re successful because we’re happy so make that your first priority.
Our happiness flows from what we think and do so make doing things that produce happiness and well-being a priority in your daily routine. Miller sites meditation, journaling (blogging anyone?), practising forgiveness, and expressing gratitude as habits that produce happiness.
Don’t set too many will power goals at once. Giving up smoking AND starting an exercise regime is a big ask. Start with a regular exercise programme, says Miller, and the willpower to tackle others will flow.
Prune dead wood from your social and professional life. Or as the old saying goes: show me your friends and I’ll show you what you’re like. If you want to become fitter, hang with fit people. If you want to give up smoking, make friends with non-smokers.
Fill your environment with positive reinforcement, or “primes” as Miller describes them. Uplifting music and inspiring art and music all contribute to feeling happier.
Create ‘hard’ goals, not simple, easy stuff. According to Miller, people who tackle and complete things they didn’t enjoy feel the highest level of self-esteem. In other words, avoid plucking only low-hanging fruit. Instead, have a crack at something big and audacious, something that’s going to stretch your sense of what’s possible.
Be a risk taker. According to Miller, “we regret what we don’t try, and not what we try that doesn’t work out.” Get out there and have a crack.
Make your goals your goals. Her advice, specifically to women is: “Get on the stage of your own life…”
Think ahead to create positive habits using “if-then” scenarios. Miller gives the example of thinking of three blessings when encountering a stop sign. I do 3 chin-ups every time I walk through a specific doorway in my house.
Have goals. According to Miller, “the happiest people wake up every day to clear-cut goals…that involve building relationships with others, making a difference in the lives of others, and making the space you inhabit a bit kinder and brighter.”

via New Year’s Resolution Advice You Won’t Read Anywhere Else | Psychology Today.

Photo credit: Lori Ann at http://www.mamawit.com/

The 50 chin-up challenge

March 9, 2013 by Peter Fletcher

As most of my friends know by now, I’m in the middle of a 50 by 50 challenge. That’s 50 consecutive chin-ups by my 50th birthday in August. I know people who know people who’ve done it and I’ve seen videos of people doing more than 50, so I know it’s possible. Whether it’s realistic is another story altogether!

The rules of the challenge are simple.

Chin-ups must be performed using an overhand grip. Some people would call that a pull-up.
Each chin-up must go to a dead hang. That means the arms must be fully extended at the bottom of each rep.
The feet must not touch the ground at any point of the set.
No mechanical or other assistance is allowed e.g. no exercise bands.

My best set so far has been 12 but since then I’ve gone backwards. Today I only made it to 6. But I’m undaunted!

Thanks to Henry Day I’ve shifted my training in a new direction and am now going for increased reps using exercise bands. Henry recommended I use the bands to get myself up to 60 reps in a set then gradually reduce the reliance on the bands.

I’ve also modified my diet, thanks to advice from Simone Allen from Nutrition Works. The goal is to cut my body fat percentage down so I’m lifting less unnecessary weight. So far I’ve dropped from 81.5kg at 11.9% body fat to 79.6 and 10.5.

I’m also going to start doing weighted chin-ups again to increase my strength. I figure that both strength and endurance will be needed if I’m to achieve my goal.

No arms, no legs, no worries with Nick Vujicic

May 23, 2011 by Peter Fletcher

There are worse things than having no arms and legs.

Most of our challenges aren’t physical, most are mental and emotional.

Principals work no matter the circumstance.

The biggest disability is fear. Men relate our value to what we do. Whether we achieve our goal or not doesn’t change the value of you.

We get scared from discouragement. Often our worst critic is ourselves. To do something new often creates fear. If we have a purpose to our goal then we have the courage to face our fears.

Principal # 1 The purpose, meaning and value of my goal will inspire courage.

I don’t know what I can achieve until I try. Let your passion drive your purpose. If its not meant to be let your dream go. But don’t let that stop you dreaming.

How long do you try? Let your heart decide the answer.

Principal # 2 When I fail I will try again

Keep trying, try different ways.

Principal # 3 Failure = education

Principal # 4 Obstacles = opportunity

You don’t know what’s around the corner until you go there.

Stop complaining about what didn’t go right. Learn from it and move on.

What’s my biggest obstacle, the one that’s hindering me from achieving my goals?

Can your obstacles possibly change? Almost every obstacle can be changed. Some obstacles don’t change but hearts do.

Learn from the best to become the best.

Once we understand that our value as a human doesn’t come from what we do then we can attack whatever we want to do without risk, without fear.